


Enjoy your trip

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A Monthly Rumbelling, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 04:42:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18564133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: For some reason Gold has become Belle's personal safety net.





	Enjoy your trip

Granny's Dinner.

Gold had opted to eat his breakfast in the diner this morning. The mood struck him to do so about once every two weeks, and since he had a new trade magazine arrive with the day's mail and today felt perfect for a lazy breakfast before he opened the shop.

He placed his order and claimed his favoured table by the door. The trade magazine, Modern Antiques, had an interesting article on establishing an on-line presence. Gold had a website for the shop, but he knew there was always more he could do to increase sales. He was puzzling his way through the section on something called Instagram when it happened.

In rapid succession the diner door opened, he heard a yelp of pained surprise, and he found himself with a lap full of librarian. Instinct had moved his hands to catch her, and it only took three seconds for him to realize that while one hand was respectable on her waist, the other had was on her bottom. He snatched both away as if he had been burned.

“Wow, thanks for the save Mr Gold.”

Belle was still sitting in his lap. He offered her a hand to set her on her feet again. Once his brain was no longer occupied with the warm, soft weight of Belle in his lap his ability to speak returned.

“Tis no matter, dearie. Might I suggest lower heels?”

She laughed, actually laughed at what he had meant to be a snide comment. Incredible.

“But if I wore lower heels I'd become a trip hazard for other people.”

He had no reply to that, even with her ridiculous heels she was even shorter than him, many of the elementary school children were already taller than her. She gave him a sunny smile and skipped away to the counter. Gold watched her until his view was obstructed by Granny bringing him his breakfast. He nodded his thanks and dug in. He put the strange start to his day out of his mind and returned to the mysteries of Instagram. It made a little more sense with the help of coffee and bacon.

 

Corner of Cherry and Main.

Gold had forgotten it was Spring Break. At least he had until the streets were filled with groups of kids. How had he missed the explosion of chocolate eggs, bunnies and chicks in the windows of every store but his? Easter always managed to sneak up on him, he wasn't sure how but it did. This year he blamed the sudden increase in temperature. The weather had opted to skip the usual spring showers and set the sun to a gentle broil. He was going to have to switch to his lighter-weight suits sooner rather than later. He was considering switching his wardrobe over this evening as he rounded the corner from Main Street into Cherry lane.

The cheerful noise of children had been a background noise all day, so he didn't pay them any mind. The sudden frantic ringing of bells and whoosh of air as half a dozen shouting kids whizzed by him on their bikes paled a little as he stumbled back into the wall of Tink's Toys with an armful of librarian.

“Ooff. Sorry Mr Gold. The kids are crazy today.”

He'd dropped his cane and grabbed her again. And his damn hand had found it's way to her bottom again. He was going to have to have serious words with his left hand, it was clearly trying to get him slapped.

Belle pushed herself away from him and he took a deep breath, which promptly caught in his throat as she crouched down in front of him. His left hand twitched and tried to reach for her hair. What the hell? Never mind serious words, he was going to cut the damn hand off, better safe than sorry.

He didn't have time to pull his wayward hand back to his side before Belle glance up.

“Oh thank you.”

She took his hand and rose to her feet. She was holding his cane, that was what she had bent down for. He took it with muttered thanks.

“I appear to be making a habit of landing on you, Mr Gold.”

He managed a small laugh; “Ah but this time the fault lies with the bicycling hoard.”

Belle giggled; “Oh Henry and his friends will love being called that. They're all into knights and dragons at the moment.

“They need some lessons on chivalry towards other road users.”

“I'll have a word with them in the library this afternoon. See you later Mr Gold.”

He returned her cheery wave and stood for a long moment after she had disappeared around the corner trying to remember what he was doing. Ah yes, going home to change into a lighter-weight suit. It was much warmer today than he had thought.

 

The Beach

Gold enjoyed the beach of an evening. It was cooler, less crowded, and the chances of him getting sunburn were zero. Perfect. He found himself a convenient outcrop of rock and sat down to watch the waves. A little way along the sand a group of people were tossing a Frisbee back and forth, he recognized their voices, but that wasn't much of a surprise, it was still a bit early in the season for tourists. He paid them no mind, happy to sit and let the evening breeze ruffle his hair and blow the cobwebs of the day away.

“Go long Belle!”

The shout from Ruby made him turn his head towards the Frisbee game. The moment he saw Belle running backwards towards him he just knew what was going to happen. Unlike the other time he had a split second to brace himself be fore she stumbled and fell into his lap.

The Frisbee sailed to a halt a few feet to his right. Belle brushed her hair out of her face and gave him a grin.

“We meet again, Miss French.”

“Yeah, sorry, Rubes was a bit enthusiastic with that throw.”

At least his damned randy left hand was behaving itself this time. It had placed itself demurely on Belle's back, just between her shoulder blades right were the crochet of her beach-cover-up stopped and her warm bare skin started. Damnation! With a gentle nudge he encouraged Belle back to her feet. She bounced up to her feet. With a graceful kick she managed to catch the Frisbee with her bare toes to flick it into her hand. She'd painted her toenails a warm gold.

“Come on Belle!”

She shot him one of those ever-ready sunny smiles of hers and scampered back to her friends.

“Catch you later Belle,” he called after her.

She turned as she ran and called back, “Not if I catch you first, Gold.”

He sat smiling at the sea, rubbing the fingers of his left hand with his thumb and wondering if she really meant that.

 

The Pawnshop

Gold had spent a lot of time over the past few days thinking about Belle French. Her golden toenails, her sunny smiles, her playful banter, and her habit of falling into his arms. Could he call that a habit? As far as he could tell there was no planning behind her tumbles. He'd not noticed her to be a particularly clumsy person. She'd not once given him the horrified look he'd expect from anyone else if they suddenly found themselves in his lap. Nor had she cursed him out for his inability to control his left hand. He frowned at the offending appendage as he positioned the ladder.

“Downright sinister the way you keep reaching for her.”

He laughed silently and wondered if Belle would like the wordplay of that thought. Perhaps next time she fell into his arms he would ask her for coffee, and then they could talk, and see if … if what? The sensible part of his mind said to see if they could be friends. The part of his mind that was clearly in control of his left hand said to see if they could be friends and lovers.

“Give you credit Lefty, you do aim high.”

He squared the ladder up and made sure he had placed the spare bulbs in the handy little pouch that sat over the top handle. Why did the bulbs always blow when Dove was away? Dove didn't need the ruddy ladder to reach the chandelier, that man must have spent his formative years sleeping in a green house with his feet in compost. Gold took a deep breath and started up the ladder. This was always a bit of a production for him, but long years of practise meant he had it mastered now.

Until today apparently. The shop door jingled open and the ladder shook. His foot slipped transferring all of his weight onto his bad leg. He spotted Belle and tried to shout her out of the way before he toppled over. Panic caused the air around him to turn in to syrup, he felt forward into Belle's arms, and his left hand caught the back of her head just in time to cushion it from the floor as they crashed backwards.

He was only inches from her face. That little stubborn lock of hair that always refused to stay tied back was fluttering in time with his gasping breathing. He really should move, but Belle's hand was brushing his hair out of his face.

“Are you okay, Gold?”

“Yeah,” even though he knew he wasn't, his leg would be complaining merry hell once it caught up with recent events, his back would probably join in the choir of pain just for kicks, but right now Belle was caressing his face and all was right with the world.

She gave him a smile, sunny as usual, but softer, more intimate like a sunset rather than the blaze of full day.

“I told you I'd catch you.”

“That you did, now what are you going to do with me?”

“Claim my prize.”

He didn't have time to ask her what she meant before she'd raised her head just enough to close the gap between them and kiss him. It was delightful, and so of course that was the moment his leg chose to register its formal complaint about the fall.

“Aahh ow!”

Belle pulled back so fast she almost crushed his fingers which were still behind her head. With wide panicked eyes she asked; “What's wrong?”

“Fall caught up with me.”

“Okay, okay let's get you up.”

It took much careful movement, a bit of untangling, a small amount of groan muffled swearing but they made it into the back room where Gold gratefully dropped onto the cot. That left hand of his took over again and he tugged Belle into his lap. She settled carefully with a giggle.

“I believe you were claiming your prize?”

“Hum, yes I was, wasn't I?”

Over the next half hour or so Gold decided that Belle's kisses were better than his pain killers, and maybe he should let his left hand lead the way more often.


End file.
